What city council got done during January and what you will pay them for that work.

By Pepper Parr

January 29th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The six ward members and the Mayor will meet at 7:00 pm this evening to turn into law the motions that were passed at various council meetings since the last City Council meeting in December.

In order to speak at a Council meeting, individuals must register as a delegation no later than 12:00 noon on the day of the meeting. To register, complete the online application at www.burlington.ca/delegation, email cityclerks@burlington.ca or phone 905-335-7600 ext. 7805.

The Agenda, as set out on the city web site looks like this:

Recommendations from Standing Committees:

Committee of the Whole meeting of January 15, 2018
Committee of the Whole – Budget meeting of January 18, 2018
Planning and Development Public meeting of January 23 and 24, 2018

The Mayor will take the council members through what was done at each of the meetings and then vote on the recommendations – they all get done at once unless a council member asks to have a separate vote on an item.
While every meeting is important the meetings of the 15th and 18th of January are not the focus of this article – the meeting that started on the 23rd and ended on the 24th that heard more than 30 delegations is critical to the direction growth in Burlington takes place.

Motion to Approve Standing Committee Minutes:

Committee of the Whole meeting of January 15, 2018
Committee of the Whole – Budget meeting of January 18, 2018
Planning and Development Public meeting of January 23 and 24, 2018

Set out below is what the Council members will be approving from the January 23rd and 24th meetings:

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Defer approval of Official Plan until after the 2018 Municipal Election.
LOST

Moved by Councillor Taylor
Direct the Director of City Building to modify the block shown at the northeast corner of Brant Street and Lakeshore located in the Cannery Precinct to the Downtown Core Precinct with a maximum building height of 17 storeys including community benefits obtained through Section 37 agreements.
CARRIED

Amendment: Moved by Councillor Meed Ward –
Amend the motion to replace the words “17 storeys” with “15 storeys”.
LOST

Moved by Mayor Goldring
Direct the Director of City Building to modify the building height permissions of the Downtown Core Precinct so that development shall:

i) have a maximum height of 12 storeys; or ii) have a maximum height which shall not exceed 17 storeys, subject to a site-specific Zoning By-Law Amendment, with additional storeys above that permitted in the Downtown Core Precinct being provided in accordance with the following:

1. one additional storey for every 150 sq m of dedicated office and/or employment floor space; or

2. one additional storey for every 8 publicly accessible parking spaces provided in an underground parking structure.

CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Amend the motion to replace the number “12” with “4” and the number “17” with “8”.
LOST

Moved by Councillor Sharman
Direct the Director of City Building to incorporate within the proposed new Official Plan an increased minimum tower separation requirement for tall buildings within the Downtown Mobility Hub of 30 metres.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to include policies to allow additional density in developments that preserve heritage buildings, as a factor of square footage preserved.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to include policy encouraging consideration of public-private parking partnerships in the Official Plan.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Sharman
Direct the Director of City Building to prepare mid-rise buildings guidelines by end of the third quarter of 2018.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Refer policies in the Official Plan regarding semi-detached homes to the zoning by-law review process.
LOST

Moved by Councillor Sharman
Direct the Director of City Building to incorporate an Official Plan policy that assigns a minimum target % (TBD) of residential dwellings contained within mid-rise and tall buildings to be configured with 2 & 3 bedrooms with at least 10% of the building containing 3 bedrooms to accommodate families with children.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to delete Chapter 3 Section 3.1.1 (2)(i) in the Official Plan “more than 200 dwelling units” and add a target percent of new mid-rise and high-rise units to achieve affordable, assisted, and special needs housing, as defined in Halton Region’s Annual State of Housing report.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to add the North-West corner of Burlington Avenue and Lakeshore Road to the special planning area (6 storeys) to match the north east corner.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward 
Direct the Director of City Building to retain the height at Burlington Avenue and Lakeshore Road to 3 storeys.
LOST

Moved by Councillor Meed
Ward Refer discussion of blocks 4 and 5 of the Upper Brant Precinct to the Planning and Development Committee meeting of February 6, 2018.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to discuss with the Region and province the possibility of removing the mobility hub classification for the downtown, and shifting the Urban Growth Centre from downtown to the Burlington GO station.
LOST

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to work with the Region of Halton to review the Downtown Urban Growth Centre boundaries, and consider restoring original boundaries with the exception of Spencer Smith Park.
CARRIED

Moved by Councillor Meed Ward
Direct the Director of City Building to remove the special policy area at the South East corner of Brant and James Street.
LOST

Moved by Mayor Goldring
Receive department of city building report PB-11-18 regarding supplementary information with respect to the proposed Downtown Mobility Hub Precinct Plan and associated Official Plan policies; and
Direct the Director of City Building to proceed with the proposed Downtown Precinct Plan, as described in report PB-81-17, as amended, and incorporate into the proposed New Official Plan; and

Direct the Director of City Building to incorporate Additional Supporting Policies for the Downtown, as described in report PB-11-18, as amended, into the proposed New Official Plan which will be presented to the Planning and Development Committee on April 4, 2018.
CARRIED

Council members get paid by the city and the Region.

Starting April 1st, the significant seven will earn:

Mayor  $177,110

Council members. $105,398

The amount they are paid is determined by an approved formula. The City of Burlington portion of Council salaries is to be adjusted effective April 1st by the percentage equal to the average annual change in the “All Goods” Ontario consumer price index (CPI) for the twelve-month period October to September with the provision that the increase is to have the following limitations:

1. Any increase cannot exceed 65% of the calculated Ontario CPI percentage;
2. No increase can be granted in the event the calculated Ontario CPI amount is less than 1%;
3. Any increase cannot be greater than the increase determined for budget purposes for non-union staff compensation;

4. When no increase is taken in a year, the amount cannot be carried over and aggregated in future years (i.e no carry-over of forfeited increase from any year to another);
5. Overall Council may adjust the calculated increase to a lesser amount than that determined while meeting the provisions

When calculating the eligible adjustment using the above limitations, the resulting increase is 1.16% and is calculated as follows:

1. 65% of the average annual change in CPI from October 2016 to September 2017 of 1.778% = 1.16%
2. CPI is greater than 1%
3. Non-union proposed merit increase = 3%

Therefore, Council may implement an increase up to 1.16% on the City portion of their salaries. If the full amount is implemented effective April 1, 2018, the city portion will be adjusted as follows:

• Councilor salary: from $54,882 to $55,519
• Mayor salary: from $125,772 to $127,231

The Region of Halton formula averages the Ontario CPI and the Toronto CPI figures. The Regional adjustment effective January 1, 2018 was recommended to 2% resulting in a salary of $49,879.